I realize how rarely I actually update this blog. Part of that is probably because I doubt anyone really reads it but I still plan to post on a more regular basis.

Anyways. Walt Disney Animation Studios just had this event called Inspire Day in which students were invited to visit the studio. I was fortunate enough to be one of those students even though I graduated earlier this year. I had never heard of the event before noticing the application go up and I never got a response to my inquiry about attending despite the fact that I graduated so I applied anyways. About a week after the deadline, I got an email inviting me to attend.

To keep things simple and save myself from breaking the NDA along with getting scissor kicked, I will be brief with each point in a far from serious way.

– The day started with breakfast in the ABC commissary next to the iconic Hat building. I had a croissant and orange juice although thinking back, I would probably have preferred the raspberry Danish.

– After breakfast, we went and lined up inside the Animation building to hand over any phones, cameras, or tablets, basically any electronic device except watches, before heading into the theater.

– In the theater, we saw some cool stuff about some pipes and lines

– Once we were done learning about pipes, we went up to where we would have lunch.

– Before getting lunch, I noticed an office with a bunch of toys and some cool maquettes. Perpendicular to the office was a conference room in which I saw the hint of someone who looked like John Lasseter. The Hawaiian shirt was the key piece of evidence. Turns out it was his office that I was looking at with all the cool stuff.

– We had lunch with a few artists from the various departments within the studio.

– After lunch, we walked a bit and then had coffee.

– Eventually we went back to the theater to see some formerly lost short film about a horse. Then the ones who found it, including a couple of guys that go by Squash and Stretch, came up to talk about finding said short.

– Once they finished talking about the horse a bit, Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck came out to talk to us a bit. At the same time, the theater got to be really cold for a while.

– Eventually, once we experienced a bit of a cold spell, we were taken back upstairs for a mixer where we were able to just hang out talking amongst ourselves and the various artists.

– As we were walking out, we were given a small goodie bag that included a poster for Frozen, a signed lithograph for the short Get a Horse, an Inspire Day shirt, and a sketchbook.

In all seriousness now, the day was meant to inspire those of us in attendance and it did a great job at that. I came away thinking about a few things I should be doing a bit different along with a few new ideas. Another bit of inspiration comes via Aspen Aten’s post about the day in regards to why we were selected.

“And just as I was about to leave, I ran into one of the recruitment people, and a group of other people and I started talking to her. One of the guys in the group asked her, “What made you choose us?”

Her response made me feel so much better about myself.

She said that when they were looking at our portfolios and our applications, they saw a love and passion for the industry. Everyone chosen was there that day because the recruitment people saw a spark in us. They saw that we had potential.”

If anyone from Disney sees this, thank you for inviting us to the studio and showing us a good time.

Alright. I need to get back to work on this project. The deadline for the CTNX Raising the Bar Recruiting is quickly approaching and I am in the middle of a revision for v2 of my latest project.

Welcome to My Journey into Animation!

Hello and welcome to my blog. I created it as a way to keep track of my work as I attempt to enter the field of animation.

Please take a look around, check out some of my work, and take it for what you will. I am always open to feedback as most of what I am doing is on my own. If you find something that you can learn from, that would be great as well.